It is common for organizations (e.g., businesses) to employ thousands of scanners (e.g., barcode scanners). These scanners are typically “dumb” (i.e., have very limited internal processing capabilities), and thus must be connected to a device having greater computing power, such as a cash register or a personal computer, in order to perform many tasks. Managing such a large number of devices can be quite difficult. For example, employing a large number of scanners can make it difficult to retrieve and visually display information about the scanners.
In addition, during the lifetime of a scanner it is typically necessary to update or change the configuration of the scanner. Altering a scanner's configuration typically requires connecting the scanner to a computer and thereafter using the computer to alter the configuration of the scanner. Accordingly, altering the configuration of many scanners can be quite time consuming.
Furthermore, managing the extremely large volume of data collectively generated by large numbers of connected scanner devices or other edge devices can be challenging. Traditional architectures may not provide suitable functionality and scalability for a device communications ecosystem that includes extremely large numbers of these edge devices, due in large part to the disparate data systems employed across these various edge device domains.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved way of retrieving and displaying scanner information and other edge device information. Furthermore, a need exists for an improved way of altering scanner configurations, and an improved way of exchanging, preserving, and searching edge device data.